The programme was shot entirely on 16mm film by Thames Television's film division, Euston Films. It originally aired on ITV between 2 January 1975 and 28 December 1978 in the 21:00–22:00 weekday (usually Monday) slot with repeated showings at the same time until the early 1980s. It starred John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan, and Dennis Waterman as his partner Detective Sergeant George Carter. Such was its popularity in the UK that it spawned two theatrically released feature film spin-offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2.

The series aired during a dark period for the real-life Flying Squad, which in the late 1970s had been publicly censured for being involved in bribery, police corruption and excessively close links with the criminal fraternity. Unlike the unwavering high standards seen in the fictional Sweeney, the actual commander of the Flying Squad, Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury was convicted of five counts of corruption and jailed for eight years on 7 July 1977. An internal investigation, called Operation Countryman, was then launched to stamp out more corruption. A further 12 officers were convicted and many others resigned.[1]

The series was created by writer Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of the better-known Troy Kennedy Martin who contributed several episodes and wrote the second film. It was born from a one-off drama, entitled Regan, which Ian Kennedy Martin wrote for Thames Television's Armchair Cinema series of standalone films in 1974. The part of Regan was specifically written for Thaw, by a friend of Kennedy Martin with whom he had worked on Redcap.[2]

From the very beginning, the show was seen as having series potential. After Regan scored highly in the ratings, work began on the development of the series proper. Ian Kennedy Martin's ideas for the series were for it to be partially studio-based, with more dialogue and less action but producer Ted Childs disagreed with this, and Ian Kennedy Martin reluctantly parted company with the project. It was filmed almost entirely on location on 16mm film (which gave it a startling degree of realism), and had a heavy bias toward action sequences.

The writers were given strict guidelines to follow: "Each show will have an overall screen time (minus titles) of 48 minutes 40 seconds. Each film will open with a teaser of up to 3 minutes, which will be followed by the opening titles. The story will be played across three acts, each being no more than 19 minutes and no less than 8 minutes in length. Regan will appear in every episode, Carter in approximately 10 out of 13 episodes. In addition to these main characters, scripts should be based around three major speaking parts, with up to ten minor speaking parts."

The Sweeney was the first really modern police-based series on British television. Previously, most dramas featuring the police had shied away from showing "coppers" as fallible human beings. The police in The Sweeney were far removed from the cosy BBC world of Dixon of Dock Green, or even from the BBC's slightly more realistic Z-Cars, which itself had been co-created by Troy Kennedy-Martin. Officers were brutal and violent in dealing with London's hardened criminals, and prone to cutting corners and bending laws. The series showed a somewhat more realistic side of the police, which often had a disregard for authority, rules and the "system", as long it got the job done. Until The Sweeney, this had been a subject largely whitewashed by British television. The series' own awareness of its breaking new ground is evident in episodes such as the second series "Trojan Bus", where Regan briefly whistles the theme-tune to Dixon of Dock Green after a particularly elementary piece of detective work.

It was a fast-paced edge-of-your-seat action series, depicting the Squad's relentless battle against armed robbery; but it nevertheless included a substantial degree of humour. For the time, it had a high degree of graphic on-screen violence and the episodes had many character deaths.

The main two characters were Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Detective Sergeant George Carter. Their superior officer was DCI Frank Haskins. However from time to time other superior officers took charge of the Flying Squad when DCI Haskins was seconded to other duties or investigations.

John Thaw starred as Detective Inspector John "Jack" Regan, the Flying Squad's chief 'thief-taker'. He is a tough police officer, often frustrated by Scotland Yard's red tape. Originally from Manchester (like Thaw himself), he has been in London for several years, so his accent has modified somewhat, but traces of his northern origins are still evident. He also refers to his northern roots every now and again (his poor upbringing, his father's work on the Manchester Ship Canal), which brings mild ridicule from George Carter, a Londoner, such as humming "The Red Flag". A heavy drinker and smoker (comically, he is sometimes seen stealing other people's cigarettes), Regan has some success with the ladies - although not as much as Carter. He can be seen as quick with his fists. He has an ex-wife, Kate, and a daughter, Susie, and in the last episode of the first series, "Abduction", Susie is kidnapped.

Regan helps out an ex-informer whose son is kidnapped in "Feet of Clay" (Series 4); and his sympathetic pushing enables his boss Haskins to ask for help when his wife goes missing after a breakdown, in "Victims" (Series 4); it's Regan who finds her. Regan repeatedly bends the rules in order to achieve the desired result: for example, fabricating evidence and arranging for a criminal to be kidnapped in "Queen's Pawn", and illegally entering private properties and threatening to lie about being attacked by a prisoner in order to get information in Regan. Despite this, he's unwilling to cheat for purely personal gain: he delivers a sharp put-down to a corrupt copper in "Bad Apple", and refuses to take a bribe in "Golden Fleece".

In the Squad, informality was everything. Everyone called DCI Haskins simply "Haskins" (except to his face), though Regan would occasionally call him by his first name, Frank. No one ever called Regan "Mister" - except the villains, or sometimes Carter when talking to Haskins. To the Squad, he was always simply "the Guv'nor", or just "Guv". In turn, he invariably called Carter and the other Squad members by their first names. But off-duty he and George Carter were friends and drinking buddies, so in private Carter called him Jack. This is all in accordance with widespread police convention.

Regan was driven around in a Ford Consul GT, which was one of the most recognisable sights on television during the 1970s and still had cult status some 30 years later. Although he is seen driving various cars himself in the series, he always has a driver-usually 'Bill' (an unaccredited role played by Tony Allen) - when using the Consul (and the similar Ford Granada models used in later stories), which served as a Squad car: when the Squad travelled they always went "mob handed" (in considerable numbers). Regan did have his own car outside of the squad, in the series.

Dennis Waterman plays Detective Sergeant George Carter who comes from south London; and Regan seeks him out in the pilot episode because of his knowledge of the South London area. His age is given in the episode "Hit and Run" as 26. In the series' timeline, we learn that George had previously been in the Squad, but had quit for family reasons (cf. Regan and "Jigsaw"). George was married to Alison Carter, a schoolteacher, but is widowed in the episode "Hit and Run" when Alison is murdered by mistake by a gang of diamond smugglers. He's a former amateur boxer, as we see from the pilot Regan, and is described as having professional boxing potential in the episode "Chalk and Cheese". Like his superior, he's fond of drinking, football, and after the death of his wife - womanising. Carter isn't as violent or aggressive as Regan and usually plays the good cop. In the episode "Latin Lady", he introduces himself to Christobel Delgado (Meg Davies) as George Hamilton Carter.

Garfield Morgan plays Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins, married with three children at boarding schools and is Regan's immediate superior. Prior to the series timeline, the character had done "National Service in the Signals Corps in a minor intelligence role" (as revealed in the episode "Stay Lucky, Eh?"). He is frequently seen at odds with Regan, preferring more conventional policing methods.

The main 'Haskins episodes' are "Golden Fleece", where he is set up to be the victim of a corruption enquiry, and "Victims", where his wife suffers a mental breakdown due to memories of a miscarriage. Although he appeared in the opening titles of every episode of the first three series, he did not appear in all of them.

The character was not present at the start of the fourth, final series, and his role was taken by other superiors such as Detective Chief Inspector Anderson, played by Richard Wilson and Detective Chief Superintendent Braithwaite, played by Benjamin Whitrow. Haskins returned a few episodes into the fourth series. There are two versions of the fourth series opening credits - with and without Haskins.

In the early episodes, the team has a variety of drivers including Len (Jack McKenzie) (the first two episodes) and Fred (in the episode "Jigsaw"). However, the episode "The Placer" in the first series introduces the character of Bill the driver (played by Tony Allen, who subsequently worked as wardrobe manager for many of John Thaw's later projects), and he remains a constant throughout the series, although he plays a peripheral, non-speaking role in most episodes.

Detective Sergeant Tom Daniels (John Alkin) is the most prominent member of the supporting Squad. Other members include Sergeant Kent, Detective Constable Thorpe and DS Matthews in the first series, DC Jerry Burtonshaw (Nick Brimble) (Series 1-2, 4) and DC Jellyneck (Series 4). Detective Chief Superintendent Maynon (Morris Perry) appears occasionally as a superior officer, and is seen as being more willing than Haskins to bend the rules in order to get a result in the episode "Queen's Pawn". With Haskins absent, a semi-regular superior officer named DCS Braithwaite (Benjamin Whitrow) appears in Series 4.

Regan's ex-wife Kate appears in the episode "Abduction", after previously featuring in the pilot; and his daughter Susie (Jennifer Thanisch) appears in several episodes, most notably, "Abduction".

Carter's wife Alison (Stephanie Turner) is seen attempting to prise him away from the Squad in the episode "Jigsaw", while her hostility toward Regan is apparent in the episode "Abduction". She is murdered in a case of mistaken identity in the episode "Hit and Run". In the DVD commentary for "Abduction", it is mentioned that the reason for this was that the actress (Stephanie Turner) was asking for too much money to continue to appear in the series. Her death was convenient for the show, releasing Carter to play a more freewheeling role, 'on the pull' - and allowing his banter with Regan, which had become a very popular part of the show, to develop even further. Stephanie Turner went on to appear in Juliet Bravo, also devised and part-written by Ian Kennedy Martin.

Doreen Haskins plays a minor role in some episodes, although the penultimate episode "Victims" deals with her deteriorating mental health and returns to the theme of the job's impact on family life. One of Haskins' three children, Richard, also appears in that episode.

The filming of each episode normally took ten working days, shooting about five minutes of edited screen time per day. Due to this, the number of different filming locations had to be restricted to 10, i.e. one location per day. At the Euston Films production office in Colet Court, there was a standing set of the Flying Squad offices, which provided an alternative option should the weather restrict a day's filming. Two days would normally be spent filming on the set, equalling 10 minutes of any episode being set in the offices. Shooting took place through in the Spring, summer, Autumn and Winter Months so, exterior night shooting was expensive and was limited to three minutes of external night material in any episode.

Each episode had an eight and a half week production schedule: two weeks' pre-production (for casting, finding locations etc.), two weeks shooting, four weeks picture editing (the first two weeks of which overlapped with the shoot), two weeks sound editing, and two-and-a-half days dubbing.

Most of the locations used for filming The Sweeney were around the west London area - in particular, Acton, Chiswick, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith (where the Flying Squad's offices were based - referred to as 'The Factory' by the characters), Fulham, Earl's Court, Kensington & Chelsea and Notting Hill districts, close to the Euston Films HQ at Colet Court in Hammersmith.Most notable is the filming of location sequences in (at the time) London`s Docklands, which had become derelict and were ideal for filming.Today the Docklands have been completely redeveloped and bear no resemblance to what it was previously. The opening titles were filmed in Colet Gardens. However, other notable locations in London, the South East of England and further afield were also used for filming the show's episodes and included:

A pilot episode, "Regan", was made as part of the Armchair Cinema series and shown in 1974. In all, four series were made with Series One being broadcast between January and March 1975 and Series Two following between September and December of the same year. Series Three was broadcast between September and December 1976, with the final series being shown two years later in 1978. Two 90-minute feature films, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2, were released in 1977 and 1978 respectively, between the third and fourth series.

The promotional episode shown to the press was "Thin Ice", which featured a relatively lightweight and somewhat humorous story, some comedy, and international locations.

Episodes from the first series included "Ringer", where the team were attempting to prevent a criminal being sprung from prison, "Jackpot", "Stoppo Driver", and "Abduction" (in which Regan's daughter Susie was kidnapped), focusing on the strains which the job caused to family life. "Night Out" subtly illustrated the backgrounds and family lives of Regan and Carter; parallels are drawn between the unhappy situation of the main villain's family and Regan's own domestic situation.

The early episodes feature a great degree of hostility and mistrust between Regan and his superior, Haskins, who in one episode ("Ringer") attempts to separate Carter from Regan in order to help Carter's career.

The episode "Queen's Pawn" is a display of how Regan is willing to bend the rules in order to get a result, as he fabricates evidence, illegally opens private mail, and even arranges the kidnapping of one of the criminals in order to get the desired result.

The episodes "Faces" and "Thou Shalt Not Kill" were broadcast during the second series. In the former an anarchist group (which appears to be German-based, with echoes of the then-contemporary Baader-Meinhof gang) is staging a number of robberies in order to raise funds for its cause. However, the group has been infiltrated by British intelligence, leading to complicated inter-departmental politics between the police and the security services. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" features a tense hostage situation inside a bank, with Haskins faced with the dilemma of whether to risk the hostages' lives by shooting the criminals.

Other highlights included a pair of tongue-in-cheek episodes, "Golden Fleece" and "Trojan Bus", featuring two cocky but likeable Australian villains, played by British actors Patrick Mower and George Layton; and the more serious episode "Hit and Run", in which Carter's wife Alison is murdered.

The episode "Taste of Fear" introduced violent psychopathic criminal Tim Cook (George Sweeney), an army deserter whose experiences in Northern Ireland had left him embittered. Cook also appeared in the later episode "On the Run".

Other episodes explored different themes: "Tomorrow Man" focused on the clash between traditional policing methods and newer more technological ways of solving crime, methods which, in the modern world, have made crimes such as those depicted in The Sweeney - of villains in stocking masks carrying out wages snatches - seem old fashioned. "Bad Apple" dealt with police corruption, and here, Regan, despite being seen to bend the rules in other episodes in order to achieve convictions (i.e. for legitimate motives), will not bend them for his own profit, and is shown to hold the deepest contempt for the corrupt officers. Finally "Sweet Smell of Succession" features one of the final screen appearances of Peter Dyneley, the voice of Jeff Tracy in the popular Gerry Anderson series "Thunderbirds".

Series 3 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast on ITV, Mondays at 21:00.

Selected Target - broadcast 06/09/1976

In from the Cold - broadcast 13/09/1976

Visiting Fireman - broadcast 20/09/1976

Tomorrow Man - broadcast 27/09/1976

Taste of Fear - broadcast 04/10/1976

Bad Apple - broadcast 11/10/1976

May * broadcast 25/10/1976

Sweet Smell of Succession - broadcast 08/11/1976

Down to You, Brother! - broadcast 22/11/1976

Payoff - broadcast 29/11/1976

Loving Arms - broadcast 06/12/1976

Lady Luck - broadcast 13/12/1976

On The Run - broadcast 20/12/1976

The following episodes were shot in 1975: Tomorrow Man, Visiting Fireman, Taste of Fear, Sweet Smell of Succession, Loving Arms and Lady Luck.

The following episodes were shot in 1976: Selected Target, In from the Cold, Taste of Fear, Bad Apple, May, Down to You, Brother!, Payoff and On the Run.

There was a two-year gap between the third and fourth series while the team made two feature films (Sweeney! and Sweeney 2) to cash-in on the show's popularity with audiences.

For the fourth series, the title sequence was changed, and a number of other changes were also made, with Haskins absent from a number of episodes. The final series has been criticised as the weakest.[citation needed] This falling off in quality led John Thaw and Dennis Waterman to the realisation that the show was in danger of running out of steam, and to take the decision to end it while it was still at the peak of its popularity.

The opening episode of the series, "Messenger of the Gods", divides fans,[citation needed] with some seeing it as tongue in cheek and the show was beginning to run out of steam.

Other notable episodes include "Nightmare", which features a slightly experimental dream sequence as part of the plot. This is also the episode with the highest body count, and features another then-contemporary plot of two ex-IRA men committing a major crime in order to buy their way back into the organisation. "Bait" featured a performance by George Sewell, who had starred in The Sweeney's Euston Films forerunner series, Special Branch, as well as in the film Get Carter!, which was a major influence on The Sweeney, and whose main character, Jack Carter, may have been the inspiration for the names of the two main Sweeney characters.

The final broadcast episode, "Jack or Knave?", which aired on 28 December 1978, saw an ambiguous ending, with the main character, Jack Regan, temporarily locked up after being implicated in a corruption scandal, of which he is finally exonerated. He then announces that he's had it with the Squad, and the series ends with him resigning in disgust.

Series 4 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast on ITV, Thursdays at 21:00.

Messenger of the Gods - broadcast 07/09/1978

Hard Men - broadcast 14/09/1978

Drag Act - broadcast 21/09/1978

Trust Red - broadcast 28/09/1978

Nightmare - broadcast 05/10/1978

Money, Money, Money - broadcast 12/10/1978

Bait - broadcast 19/10/1978

The Bigger They Are - broadcast 26/10/1978

Feet of Clay - broadcast 02/11/1978

One of Your Own - broadcast 09/11/1978

Hearts and Minds - broadcast 23/11/1978

Latin Lady - broadcast 30/11/1978

Victims - broadcast 14/12/1978

Jack or Knave? - broadcast 28/12/1978

The following episodes were shot in 1977: Messenger of The Gods, Drag Act, Trust Red, Money, Money, Money, Feet of Clay, One of Your Own and Jack or Knave?.

The following episodes were shot in 1978: Hard Men, Nightmare, Bait, The Bigger They Are, Hearts and Minds, Latin Lady and Victims.

Like many successful British TV series of the time, such as Porridge and Rising Damp, cinema versions of The Sweeney were made, featuring the same actors and characters. The two films were far more raw than the TV series, featuring levels of violence, sex and nudity that would not have been possible on television at the time.

In Sweeney! (1977), Regan and Carter get involved in a plot based on the Profumo Affair. British actor Barry Foster guest-stars as an Americanised, and more deadly, version of Stephen Ward. Made in 1976, the film appears to be set in the then near-future, indicated by the line "The same damned speech you made in 1978."; also visible on a wall in the scene where the OPEC delegates meet is a logo displaying "1979".[4]

In Sweeney 2 (1978), George and Jack eventually find themselves going to the island of Malta in order to track down a group of particularly violent armed robbers who have been committing bank and payroll robberies all over London and kill anybody that gets in their way, even members of their own gang, Jack & George were assigned the case by their recently convicted chief inspector as his last order, as he is about to be charged with corruption.[5]

The first three books were authored by Ian Kennedy Martin, the rest by Joe Balham. The plots of the books are not taken from any of the television episodes; overall, the tone of the books differ somewhat from the television series in that Regan is usually depicted as working alone, and his relationship with Carter is distinctly unfriendly.[7]

Dennis Waterman was cast after his performance in the Special Branch episode 'Stand and Deliver'. In the same episode, Stephanie Turner (who played his wife in The Sweeney) played his sister. She went on to have her own police series, Juliet Bravo.

In the orange-tinted photographs that are shown in the closing credits for Series 1–3, an enlarged set of fingerprints is displayed on a board behind Detective Chief Inspector Haskins. These belong to actress and model Pamela Green, whose boyfriend Doug Webb took the stills photographs used in the titles and credits.[11]

A red Fiat 850 Coupé makes a cameo appearance in a lot of episodes: typically, it's parked at the side of the road as the action takes place around it. One theory is that the car belonged to a crew member who tried to include it as an in-joke in as many episodes as possible.[12]

Regan and Carter appear briefly as part of a stakeout operation in one of the novelizations of the TV series "The Professionals".

Scotland Yard's real Flying Squad lost an important surveillance technique when The Sweeney exposed their use of the roadsidetents erected by telephoneengineers, who would place them over open manholes in the street to protect them from the weather. These tents are frequently shown in the series as hideaways for keeping a covert eye on suspects.

A two-part 1998 installment of Diagnosis: Murder, "Obsession", features lead villains named Carter Sweeney and Regan Sweeney.

The creators of the hit show Life on Mars have often stated that The Sweeney was a big influence on the show.

To date only one Episode of The Sweeney has been shown on the BBC. It was shown on the Spring Bank Holiday Monday in May 1992 as part of BBC 2`s "Cops & Robbers" Day. The Episode broadcast was "Supersnout". It was introduced by Shaw Taylor, better known for his Police 5 series on the ITV Network.

In 1977 and 1978, publishers Brown Watson (who specialised in annuals based on TV series') published two editions of 'The Sweeney Annual' featuring a mix of comic strips (some with art by Brian Lewis) and illustrated text stories, interspersed with occasional features on the TV series, articles about policing, puzzles and (in the 1978 annual) an interview with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.

In the early 1980s, the comic Jackpot featured a strip called "The Teeny Sweeney" which was originally drawn by J. Edward Oliver. A trio of schoolboys played at being plain-clothes policemen, with two of them looking like little versions of Regan and Carter. They even had "Flying Squad" written on the side of their cartie. Their attempts at being helpful, however, almost always ended in disaster.

A TV ad for the NissanAlmera car in the late 1990s had two characters similar to Carter and Regan racing through London to deal with a "bank job". A suspicious group of men have entered a bank dressed as painters. As 'Carter' races the car through the streets, 'Regan' keeps bellowing at him and others to "Shut it!"

At one stage, 'Regan' shouts "Mark it!", which is slang for following a suspect, but in this case, means "market" as 'Carter' drives erratically through a market place. 'Carter' tells 'Regan' to stop shouting — to which 'Regan' barks the reply "I can't!".

When they burst into the bank, it turns out that the men are genuine painters and that 'Regan', their guv (or boss), is there to tell them that they have the wrong sort of white paint(!) 'Carter' says, "Think we'd better go back to the yard, guv, and get some more." "Shut up!" [13]

One of the painters talks in a squeaky-like voice and is called "Squealer", which is slang for informant.

(This ad was the follow-up to a hugely popular one spoofing The Professionals a year or so previously.)

The complete series of The Sweeney was released by Network on 16 DVDs in 2005. The pilot episode "Regan" was also released on DVD in November 2005. Both films, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 have also been released on DVD.

The 2007 18-disc Network release contains all four series, the pilot and both of the spin-off films. Along with all this, the box-set contains exclusive extras.

A soundtrack album Shut it! The Music of The Sweeney was released in 2001 and features much of the incidental music used in the programme as well as many classic pieces of dialogue from various episodes. It also featured the main title theme from the first Big Screen version, "SWEENEY!",

In 2012 the first series was released on high definition Blu-ray discs, after the original film negatives were scanned in HD and comprehensively restored by BBC Studios and Post Production. Fans are eagerly awaiting the remainder series issued on Blu-ray by Network Distributing. [14][15]